AMANDA MCWHINNEY, JEILAH KANAKE, AARON BONERT, ROSIE ROE, KEVIN DUGGAN CONGO

GEOGRAPHY Location: Central Africa, northeast of Angola Total Area: 2,344,858 sq km Land : 2,267,048 sq km Water: 77,810 sq km Climate: Tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands

ECONOMY GDP: $27.53 billion GDP real growth: 7.1% Labor force: million Household Income: lowest 10%: 2.3% highest 10%: 34.7% Exports: diamonds, copper, gold, cobalt, wood products, crude oil, coffee Export Locations: China 48.1%, Zambia 21.3%, US 9.5%, Belgium 5.4% (2011)

OKAPI

PEOPLE Congolese (singular and plural) Ethnic groups: over 200 African ethnic groups Language: French,Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo, Tshiluba Religion: Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20% Population: 75,507,308 Pop. Growth rate: 2.54% Birth Rate: births/1,000 population Death rate: deaths/1,000 population Age 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba

CONGO BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT Early Settlers: The earliest inhabitants believed to be Pygmy Tribes End of the 1st millennium B.C.

CONGO BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT Bantu’s Bantu people arrive in the Congo around 1000bc Had knowledge of iron technology and agriculture Development of agriculture Early 2 nd millennium

CONGO BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT Social structure The total population before colonization Occupied by three large empires The Luba Empire The Lunda Empire The Kongo Empire Each empire ruled by a king Districts, provinces and villages were all part of a kingdom

CONGO BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT Government Each empire had a main king King and village leaders Committees helped the king rule The Land Most of land was unharmed Human impact on land

CONGO DURING LEOPOLD’S REIGN Took all “vacant” land Thought natives were lazy, uncivilized, “a little better than animals” Ivory gathering Porters

CONGO DURING LEOPOLD’S REIGN Punished natives with chicottes 1 stroke= permanent scar 25 strokes= unconscious 100 strokes= fatal Late 1890s- military consumed more than half of state’s budget Children colonies Death rate= over 50%

RUBBER TRADE Leopold anxious for foreign capital Force Publique—army whose purpose was to terrorize the natives into compliance Harvested using latex from vines of wild trees in the jungle Punishments for not meeting production quota Agents did not stop at any length to get rubber atch?v=dpx5hy5TejE

RUBBER TRADE million people killed Leopold had minimal contact with the outside world 1903—Roger Casement, British diplomat, establishes report of everything that took place 1908—Leopold handed Congo over to Belgian state

CONGO AFTER INDPENDENCE 1960  Gained independence from Belgium, after violent riots  Prime Minister Lumumba is captured and killed by loyalists to Colonel Joseph Mobutu  Colonel Joseph Mobutu gains control of the country Colonel Joseph Mobutu becomes the president of Zaire. Zaire becomes a Kleptocracy.

CONGO AFTER INDEPENDENCE 1971 Formation of the Authenticity movement. Congo is renamed Zaire European investors are forced out of Zaire The investors back, but without success.

CONGO AFTER INDEPENDENCE 1990 Mobutu allows multi-party system 1993 Two governments established 1994 Rwandan genocide sparks the Rwandan Patriotic Front Successful rebellion against the Mobutu regime.

CONGO AFTER INDEPENDENCE 1997 Laurent Kabila becomes new president of Zaire Renamed DR Congo 1998 Another rebellion Country in chaos & disorder 1999 Lukasa Peace accord 2001 Kabila is killed by bodyguard Joseph Kabila takes over

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Based on the class discussion Friday, May 3 on colonialism causing de-civilization, how do you see that through the history of Congo? Could Belgium have done anything differently to make the transition into independence easier for the Congolese?

THANK YOU!